


The Remembering

by AnnieFey



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1274575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieFey/pseuds/AnnieFey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the remembering is quiet;<br/>it sneaks up on them the way that golden leaves sneak up on autumn.</p><p>After Rumple's death, Belle remembers him, and wonders where their story ends.<br/>In a dark and timeless void, Rumplestiltskin remembers her, and ponders their forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Belle_

Sometimes it’s quiet, sneaks up on her the way that golden leaves sneak up on autumn. The moon is too dark, and it reminds her of him. She wonders if it shines on the empty plains or hooded mountains where he is, and she wonders if it’s dark there, too.

Sometimes it’s loud as magic, announcing its presence the way an army announces destruction and deliverance. She doesn’t have a photograph, and she wonders if he ever had one taken. Questions she never thought to ask flood her consciousness and she wonders how much she’ll never know.

Sometimes she cries.

It’s the little things that set it off, like roses blooming in the gardens. They’re beautiful, by any name, though she believes a rose should be simply a rose, and names have always been so powerful. She remembers roses. She remembers him, and the world begins to blur a little.

Sometimes she reads.

She is done with adventures, and wonders now if she’s in the after part of the story, past happily-ever. No one likes to write about the after, and so she satisfies herself with reading about the adventures and the ever-happily heroines with no heartaches and afters to speak of.

Sometimes she sings.

Everything forgotten seems to be coming back, and so she remembers childhood folksongs and hums them sometimes. She wonders if he can hear her voice, where he is, the way she still hears his. Roses are tragic, but singing makes her smile.

Sometimes she sleeps.

It’s too cold without him, it’s too dark, the room is too big when he’s not there, and she’s so small. She looks out the window and wonders what made them villains and heroes. She wonders who wrote their happily-ever. She wonders who is writing their after.


	2. Chapter 2

_Rumple_

Sometimes it’s quiet, sneaks up on him the way that she stole into his heart, unrecognized until it was already too late. It’s cold and dark, but sometimes a star flashes in the distance, and it reminds him of her. He wonders cynically if an angel’s fallen, and then wonders tenderly whether she sees it too.

Sometimes it’s loud as magic, cracking with the kind of power he once coveted. It has its price; she claims his thoughts for days as he sits and stares at the distant black of a sky. Occasionally he thinks he sees her face, but it’s only remembering.

Sometimes he cries.

It’s in little tears, trickling from the corner of an eye and falling fast to the frozen ground. The tears bloom into roses to keep him company; he is unsure how long they will last. Eternity is made up of uncountable moments, and he wonders how many eternities she lived through.

Sometimes he counts.

He skips some of the years and counts only the ones that mattered. He chooses to recall them in moments instead of hours. When the darkness comes to take him, he finds himself wondering about her moments ever after. He wonders if she found her adventure.

Sometimes he spins.

Forever is a long word, and he remembers her saying it. He remembers her laughing, her voice melodic, persistent, teasing. Sometimes he swears he hears her voice, and wonders if she heard him calling to her, once. Forever is a long time. He will spin his gold forever, and remember her.

Sometimes he sleeps.

It’s too quiet without her, too dark, and the world is too large without her in it. Sometimes he wonders how they found one another in that tangled mess of history. She is his flicker of light in the immense darkness, and he holds on to her memory. She is the only part of him left.


End file.
